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[This book] is a collection of original papers that presents a vision of an invigorated and vibrant labour movement, one that would actively seek the full participation of women and other traditionally excluded groups, and that would willingly incorporate a feminist agenda. This vision challenges union complicity in the gendered segmentation of the labour market; union support for traditionalist ideologies about women's work, breadwinners, and male-headed families; union resistance to broader-based bargaining; and the marginalization of women inside unions. All of the authors share a commitment to workplace militancy and a more democratic union movement, to women's resistance to the devaluation of their work, to their agency in the change-making process. The interconnected web of militancy, democracy, and feminism provides the grounds on which unions can address the challenges of equity and economic restructuring, and on which the re-visioning of the labour movement can take place. The first of the four sections includes case studies of union militancy that highlight the experiences of individual women in three areas of female-dominated work: nursing, banking, and retailing. The second and third sections focus on the two key arenas of struggle where unions and feminism meet: inside unions, where women activists and staff confront the sexism of unions, and in the labour market, where women challenge their employers and their own unions. The fourth section deconstructs the conceptual tools of the discipline of industrial relations and examines its contribution to the continued invisibility of gender. --Publisher's description. Contents: Foreword / Judy Darcy -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Feminist Challenge to the Unions / Linda Briskin and Patricia McDermott. Part 1. Women on Strike. The Eaton's Strike: We Wouldn't Have Missed It for the World! / Patricia McDermott -- Alberta Nurses and the 'Illegal' Strike of 1988 / Rebecca Coulter -- Reflections on Life Stories: Women's Bank Union Activism / Patricia Baker. Part 2. The Politics of Gender within the Union Movement. Union Women and Separate Organizing / Linda Briskin -- Trade Union Leadership: Sexism and Affirmative Action / Carl J. Cuneo -- Women Working for Unions: Female Staff and the Politics of Transformation / Jane Stinson and Penni Richmond -- Black Women Speak Out: Racism and Unions / Ronnie Leah -- Unionism and Feminism in the Canadian Auto Workers Union, 1961-1992 / Pamela Sugiman. Part 3. Unions and Women Workers. Patterns of Unionization / Julie White -- Collective Bargaining and Women's Workplace Concerns / Pradeep Kumar -- The Gendered Dimension of Labour Law: Why Women Need Inclusive Unionism and Broader-based Bargaining / Judy Fudge -- Can a Disappearing Pie be Shared Equally?: Unions, Women, and Wage 'Fairness' / Rosemary Warskett -- Unions and Women's Occupational Health in Québec / Karen Messing and Donna Mergler -- From the DEW Line: The Experience of Canadian Garment Workers / Armine Yalniziyan -- Professions, Unions, or What?: Learning from Nurses Pat Armstrong. Part 4. Studying Women and Unions. A View from Outside the Whale: The Treatment of Women and Unions in Industrial Relations / Anne Forrest.

OCLC: 1011475719